I come to praise DCF, not to bury it. A magnet for criticism in the best of times, the state Department of Children and Families has drawn torrents of outrage over the past two weeks for its decision to transfer a 16-year-old transgender youth to an adult prison.

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What's being said

Children do not belong in prison - period. This is yet another example of a government institution completely ignoring the rule of law and the constitution of this country in order to pretend it can be a proper parent for a CHILD. This represent nothing save for yet another monumental failure on the part of DCF - and perfect example of why some states like Arizona have completely done away with these agencies - because they create far more harm then offering any good.

Polargirl

Apr 24, 2014

A purported law website that fails to see that placing someone in prison despite not being charged with a crime violates the 8th Amendment guaranteeing due process needs to stop calling itself a law journal.

This article should have been about how Connecticut‘s law is or isn‘t constitutional, not what is or isn‘t best for this child.

David V. DeRosa, Esq.

Apr 22, 2014

I agree with Dan Krisch. What was done here was appropriate given the limited information available. Doing nothing would have been a mistake. I think the well meaning people criticizing DCF for placing a youth either in detention or solitary in a woman‘s prison MUST propose a viable alternative for Jane Doe that balanced the safety of the youth against the safety of the public. If the criticism about how the child is treated does not have a viable alternative to protect the physical safety of the child, then the criticism is simply noise. Obviously there are deep and difficult problems with this child, but if DCF has no plan of action to deal with the fairly predictable antisocial conduct of assaults that arise when a situation escalates is simply irresponsible.